Joseph Tucker, ‘Pay-It-Forward Sexually Transmitted Infection (STI) Testing for Gay Men in China’

The final China Speaker Series will feature Joseph Tucker, Assistant Professor in the Division of Infectious Diseases at UNC Chapel Hill and director of UNC Project-China.

Is kindness contagious among gay men in China? We designed a quasi-experimental study to examine the effect of a pay-it-forward STI testing program in China. The pay-it-forward program has has one person receive a gift (and STI test), then asks the same person if they would like to give a gift (STI test) to another gay man. The pay-it-forward approach was iteratively designed from community feedback through several crowdsourcing activities. We found that this approach increased gonorrhea and chlamydia testing compared to the standard of care. This was a first gonorrhea or chlamydia test for 86% of men. Eighty-nine percent of men in the pay-it-forward group donated some amount. This pilot program has implications for research and policy.

Food and refreshments will be provided.